The Reason
by BloodyBlackTears
Summary: AU 6th year Hermione is being hunted by Death Eater. Draco, accidentally, saves her. We all know what will happen when they have to work together. But that's just the start. Voldemort never gives up. Full summary inside. Non-Cliche I hope & in character


Title: The Reason

Era: 6th Year

Rating: Fluctuates. For now, T. Eventually M.

Genre: Romance, Action/Adventure, Comedy

Summary: AU. In the summer before her sixth year, Hermione Granger suddenly becomes a target to Lucius Malfoy and his Death Eater pals. Draco Malfoy, completely by accident, is the one to save her. Now they must work together to figure out what the Death Eaters want with Hermione. But that's just the beginning. We all know what happens when Draco and Hermione take the time to actually get to know each other. Sixth year is going to be a year neither of them will ever forget. Ugh, and Voldemort just won't give up, will he?

I'll try to be as non-cliche as possible, and my plan is to stay very in character. But we must remember, no one is completely one-sided.

_I've found a reason for me_

_To change who I used to be_

_A reason to start over new_

_and the reason is you_

_I've found a reason to show_

_A side of me you didn't know_

_A reason for all that I do_

_And the reason is you_

Sixteen year old Hermione Granger sat on a wooden stool behind an island counter. She admired the stark white walls of her kitchen, such a contrast to the dark stone walls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where Hermione spent most of the year. It was nearing 12 pm on the 5th of July, and it was already a beautiful day outside. Hermione longed to feel the freshly cut grass beneath her toes and the sun on her skin, but she knew she must act responsibly.

"You're not paying attention, are you?"

Hermione blinked a few times and turned her attention to the pair of olive green eyes that stared at her intently. "Sorry." She gave the six year old across from her the best apologetic look she could muster. The rules were simple. Kara was not allowed to play until she finished her parent-assigned summer homework for the day, with Hermione's help. And that meant Hermione was not allowed to have fun until Kara finished either. Thus was the life of the babysitter. "It's just so nice out. I can't believe your parents are really making you do all this work. And this is coming from the girl who's done all of her summer work _twice_ already. You're just too young, and it's _so_ nice out and-"

The doorbell cut off Hermione's rambling and she sighed. She was never going to see the outside world. "Coming." She mumbled as the doorbell sounded again, but before she could even stand up, Kara was racing toward the forest green door screaming "I'll get it, I'll get it!" Considering it was a weekday, Hermione figured it was only the mail carrier with a package too large to fit in the box, so she allowed her charge to answer the door.

"Hi!" Kara beamed up at the visiter.

_Oh crap._ Hermione mentally scolded herself when she set eyes on the visitor. She should have known. But as she drew her wand and flung herself protectively in front of Kara, she couldn't help but think _since when do Death Eaters knock?_

Draco Malfoy couldn't help arching an eyebrow at the scene before him. As it was, he had to suppress a laugh, though the smirk on his lips may have given away his amusement. It was shocking to see an overly happy dirty-blonde child open the door. It was more shocking to see Hermione Granger clad in fashionable jean shorts and a pastel purple tee. What was not shocking was the way Granger reacted, throwing herself in the line of "danger." _That's what Gryffindors do best. God forbid they actually process the situation before reacting._

"Leave, Malfoy." She practically growled.

"Chill, Granger. And put that thing away. In case you haven't noticed, we're in a muggle neighborhood." Draco's smirk grew as the bushy-haired girl in front of him seemed to come to her senses. She quickly tucked her wand back in to what seemed to be an elastic holster that she wore around her waist. Draco caught a glimpse of her frilly blue underwear poking out from the top of her shorts before her shirt slipped back over them again. He had never seen Granger as the frilly type before. _Interesting._

He pushed by the two girls with little effort and entered the grossly under decorated house. The ground floor was open, the kitchen, dining room, and sitting room were all one space. Only what Draco guessed to be a water closet was closed off. To his left, an office could be seen, though no door enclosed the doorway. He could see two desks and books shelves in the room. Every wall was white, and the entire floor was a lightly colored wood. Everything was so crisp and clean it made Draco sneer. The only embellishments on the walls were inanimate, disgustingly happy family portraits.

"I said leave, Malfoy."

Broken from his analysis of the Granger home, Draco spun around to face the only female member of the Golden Trio, who still stood protectively before the young girl, though the front door was now shut. "And I said chill. I'm not going to hurt the girl. What is she, your little sister? Another Granger, just what this world needs." Sarcasm dripped from his voice.

"Why are you here?" She didn't relax.

"Just in the neighborhood. You know me, I love playing with muggle toys. Arther Weasley and I are actually starting a fan club, and I needed to do some more research! So I thought, 'Who better to interview about muggles than the bloody mudblood herself?'"

Granger glared so hard it sent a chill down Draco's back. "Look, I don't know why I'm here, okay?" He admitted.

"How do you not know?" She was skeptic, and he couldn't blame her. That sounded like a pretty lame excuse.

"I don't know. One second I'm arguing with my father, and the next I'm standing outside of your house."

"How did you know it was mine?"

"Oh I don't know, the giant sign that says GRANGER on the post out by the road?" He rolled his eyes. Seriously, how thick.

"It could be any number of Grangers!"

"Look, it's not that difficult to piece together. My father was in the company of a number of other _associates_ and their nearly _seventeen_ year old heirs when I entered his office. He seemed rather angry when I picked up the coins on his desk early on in the argument, and even more angry when I wouldn't hand them over. And when he seemed to be in a rush and almost cursed me for not handing them over on my own, POOF, it was too late. I think he miscalculated the time he had remaining on the portkey. I'm surprised, though, that he hasn't apparated after me yet."

"You're saying they were planning an attack? And some kind of right of passage? In the middle of the day? You're insane. Why are you here Malfoy."

"Well, you weren't expecting it, were you? Sounds pretty smart to me. I told you Granger, believe me or not, but I'd say if you and your little sister want to live, you should probably get out of here."

She seemed to consider that for a moment and then, with panic in her eyes, she turned to the child. "Kara, I need you to be brave, okay? Some things are going to happen that you might not understand. It might even be scary. But you trust me, right?" The girl nodded, but looked frightened. Granger grabbed her by the hand and began dragging her about. She picked up a black object from a dock on the wall and began pushing buttons on it frantically.

"Mum, mum! Listen! You need to listen to me." She said into the black object as if it could hear her. Draco racked his brain for an idea as to what this object was. _Telephone_ he remembered from his muggle studies class. _I'll never understand muggles _he mused. "You can't come home from work today. Tell Dad too. There's something going on, I need you to go stay with Grandma. Please, Mum, just _trust_ me!" Draco followed the fired up Granger and the girl he now knew as Kara up the stairs and into a bedroom filled with so many books there was no longer space for them on the shelves, so many were stacked on the floor. "Call Mrs. Donaldson and tell her I took Kara to the museum and we won't be back until late. I'm using the emergency portkey to get to the Weasley's. I'll have someone return Kara home later, it's not safe now. I love you Mum, please do as I said. Bye." She pushed another button and threw the telephone onto her bed.

She turned to Kara (who was, apparently, not her sister) again and knelt on the floor so they were on the same level. "This is going to be a little weird." She pointed to a tall glass jewelry box on the nightstand next to the bed. Inside hung a silver necklace chain adorned a silver letter H. "You see that necklace?" Kara nodded again. "In a moment I'm going to pick up that necklace, and when I do, you MUST be holding my hand, okay?" The girl kept nodding dumbly, obviously scared. "It's going to take us to my friends house. You remember me talking about Ron, right?"

"H-He's your b-best friend." Kara found her voice.

"Yeah." Hermione managed to force a smile. "And his family is going to help us."

Draco couldn't find it in himself to scoff at this, as he normally would have. There was such a serious feeling in the air. Suddenly he heard the front door being blown open, and he met Granger's eyes as they grew wide in fear. She quickly opened the door to the jewelry box and grabbed for the necklace. Her grip of the girls hand was so tight that both of their hands were going white. Something in him that he didn't understand made Draco reach out for Kara's other hand just as Granger's fist clasped around the necklace. The next thing he knew, he was feeling the all too familiar tug behind his naval.

A/N: Lyrics from the summary are from Hoobastank's "The Reason," the song that initially got me to write this.

Well, I certainly jumped into the plot there, didn't I? Well, I hate long, overly boring introductions. So what the heck! Some questions you may have will hopefully be answered in the next chapter. If not, ask away. I hope you like it. Please comment/review I love to hear feedback!

Btw, Kara will not be in the whole story. I'm not a big fan of original characters, but she's necessary for now.


End file.
